CHINOOK
Uncle Peter, I entirely agree that we shall never know WHY they did not turm away, but the fact is that THEY DID NOT DO SO. I have offered my opinion, and I will not bore you with it here yet again, because it really does not matter WHY they pressed on, the fact is that they DID SO. Please forgive the capital letters; I wish only to emphasise the points that so many folk seem to misunderstand.
The most likely, and indeed the only plausible, explanation for the crew's pressing on towards that high ground is that they thought they would clear it with a cruise climb. Indeed the verdict of the original BofI was, I understand, that the crew ' selected an inappropriate rate of climb' over the high ground.
We shall never know what went on in the cockpit, and it does not matter; but we do know that the crew were at the controls as the aircraft headed towards the hills, when by all the rules they should not have done so. They should have turned away. Would you not have done so?
It really does not matter, in the slightest, WHY they decided to press on, but the fact is that they did so.
Sad but true, Regards John Purdey.